


Sleepless

by galactiicace



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I'm a sucker for comforts after nightmares, M/M, Nightmares, This one isn't really relationship based but implied with some pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 07:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16383776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galactiicace/pseuds/galactiicace
Summary: Gold eyes are plaguing him, toying with him; they're wearing Sora's face, and all he can do is hold on for a little while longer to what he holds dearest in the worlds.





	Sleepless

**Author's Note:**

> Like most of my fics, you can thank the wondrous peacekeeper_revolver, who has dragged me into the utter hell of Soriku and Kingdom Hearts in general. I'm suffering and I love it, so here's an idea we tossed around literally 24 hours ago that I sped-wrote something for because my computer is on its last leg and I couldn't help but write it out. Sorry in advance for any errors, I couldn't be bothered to proof read too much because my computer was dying.

“Riku!” Sora’s voice felt heavy and distorted, his hand reaching for Riku with the same anxiety the older felt now. Tendrils of black snaked their way up Sora’s ankles, slithering their way up the tan calves as he tried to step away, fear encroaching his features as his eyes shot to Riku. “Riku, help me, please!” He screamed, as his waist became wrapped in the darkness. 

“Sora, run!” He cried in return, blade drawn and knuckles white as he gripped its handle. There was no hesitation – there never was, not when it came to Sora – as he flew forward, ready to swing and destroy that which threatened the one he cared for the most. 

“Fool.” The voice was cold, and though Riku was quick, Ansem was quicker. His hand shot out, grip tight as it caught Riku by the neck and stopped him in his tracks. The latter stared, eyes wide, as the familiar golden hues of that who plagued him in the night stared back. He was wearing Sora’s face, wearing Sora’s clothes, but the eyes, it was enough for Riku to drop the blade to the oozing black below them. He choked, clawing at Ansem’s wrist as he felt himself lifted, the grip tightening around his throat as Ansem laughed with the same smugness he held the first time they met. “I told you once already, didn’t I? You can’t protect him, he will become my vessel, one way or another.

Ansem drew him close then, eyes wild as he grinned. Everything burned – his body, his lungs, his heart, he felt himself set ablaze in Ansem’s hold as his fingers slid from, losing their grip as the dark filled his vision. “And if I can’t have him,” Ansem’s voice was low now, pressed to Riku’s ear as the world spun around him. “Then neither can you.”

Riku woke gasping, eyes wide in the dark as he fought to catch his breath, which was coming now in short, shallow gasps. Sweat covered his body in a thin sheet, and he felt a dull ache, a phantom pain that lingered in the minutes after consciousness found him. “A dream…” Riku found himself whispering to himself, palms pressing to his eye sockets as his body shook and wet streaked down his cheeks. 

Nights like this were quickly becoming the norm; since becoming a full-fledged master of the keyblade, Riku couldn’t remember having slept through the night peacefully. Each night, he found himself locked in the same versions of his own hell: Ansem, and the Darkness. Some nights were worse than others – it wasn’t always Ansem killing him, those weren’t always as bad. But when he wore Sora’s face, that’s when he felt the bile rise each time. Other nights, it wasn’t Ansem’s hands around Riku’s throat, but Riku’s hands around Sora, his own teal eyes traded for the familiar, deep gold as the devil himself as he pulled the life from the one thing that mattered most to him. Those nights were the ones he’d wake up screaming, but they were becoming fewer and far between, as the darkness in his heart stayed idle. No, his fear now was Sora, and Xehanort’s growing influence. 

Now, though, he sat in the dark, blankets kicked off as he struggled to take deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. No, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept through the night, and lately it was starting to play with his mind. It was hard enough keeping it from Sora, but as the nightmares grew in intensity, so waned his ability to keep the nightmares a secret. He sniffled now, wiping the exess tears from his cheeks as his legs swung over the bed. It was still too early, the tower sleeping sound as he made his way down the hall of master Yen Sid’s tower towards the bathroom. His face was gaunt, eyes sunken as he gripped the sink and stared his reflection down in the mirror. A sigh, and Riku’s head fell forward as he moved to turn the faucet on. 

His skin was still burning, he still felt the sickening lack of air as he the pads of his fingers traced his throat slowly. Tender, but he knew it was his own imagination if nothing else. By morning, the feeling would leave, and he’d be just fine. But for now, his hands cupped beneath the stream of water, and he splashed the cool liquid against the heat on his face. 

He spent the better part of 15 minutes in the bathroom, splashing the water against his face, and staring at himself, until some semblance of color returned to his cheeks, and he didn’t look quite so dead tired – the latter wouldn’t go away until he had a proper night’s sleep, but he looked better now than he had when he first woke. By the morning, he’d look like his usual stoic self, enough to fool at least Sora (Kairi, and the king himself, had begun to ask, but he deflected each attempt in favor of ducking out of the line of questioning with the guise of going to practice). 

He didn’t notice until he came face-to-face with his door on the walk back, but light was bleeding into the hallway through the cracks in the door, lights he hadn’t left on when he ran to the bathroom. Riku blinked, taking a step back as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise. He could hear rustling from within, a bang somewhere, and he swallowed back the unease he felt – it was too early for the Organization to be coming after him, but he wasn’t taking a chance. Keyblade drawn, Riku took a breath and slammed his shoulder into the door. 

His door swung wide, slamming against the wall as Riku’s keyblade pointed into the face of the perpetrator. Deep, ocean blue hues stared back at him, fear struck through them, as Sora stepped back until the back of his legs hit Riku’s bed. 

“R-Riku, it’s me!” He cried, hands in front of him as he attempted to look as nonthreatening as he could. Riku stared, a moment longer, eyes wild before his senses came back to him. In an instant, the keyblade was gone, and Riku looked as horror struck as Sora felt. 

“Jesus, Sora, you scared the hell out of me—”  
“Me?! You’re the one who nearly attacked me!” There was no anger or malice in the reply, Sora’s eyes soft as they trained on Riku. He could see the dark circles, and couldn’t help but wonder if his friend was on edge as a result of whatever it was that kept him awake this late in the night. 

“I—I’m so sorry, Sora, if I’d known it was you…” Riku trailed, a sigh on his lips as he rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. Sora shook his head, patting the bed next to him as he scooted himself to the middle of it. He was wrapped in Riku’s blankets by the time Riku had come back in, the white sheets wrapped around his shoulders as he huddled in them, cocooned in a way that made Riku think, if only for a moment, he wasn’t the only one struggling to sleep tonight. 

He sighed, closing the door to his room before he made his way to the bed, seating himself by Sora as his back pressed against the wall the head of the bed sat pushed up to. His eyes were half lidded as he watched the younger, who struggled to look at him – whether because Riku had nearly attacked him, or for some other reason, Riku wasn’t sure, but he felt the guilt sink in either way.

“Why are you up?” He asked, finally, brow raised as Sora moved to hug his knees, pout clear on his features even as he attempted to hide beneath his hair.

“I could ask the same of you, y’know.” He grumbled back, before he moved to rest his cheek on his knees, eyes intense now as they stared Riku down. “I couldn’t sleep, and I thought I heard you get up, so I wanted to come say hi.” Riku sighed, watching Sora with tired eyes, his foot tapping against Sora’s leg lightly. 

“Mm. I had to use the bathroom, which is why I’m up. “ Sora made an oh sound, looking apologetic as though he had disturbed Riku without meaning to. 

“I can go back to my room if you want, I don’t want to keep you up.” He offered, but Riku waved him off, a soft, tired smile on his face. 

“No, I don’t mind if you stay, I probably wouldn’t make it back to sleep for a while anyway.” He mused, and that was the truth. It was rare he fell back to sleep after waking the way that he did, and if it meant keeping Sora company, he was okay with that. After what happened with the Mark of Mastery test, Riku was hesitant to even leave his side, but he knew he wasn’t the only one having nightmares, and it was written all over Sora’s face.

There were dark circles under his eyes, not unlike how Riku looked now, and they were puffy – he’d been crying, whether in his sleep or after, Riku wasn’t sure, but he’d known Sora long enough to know how to read him like a book. He was exhausted, that much was clear, and Riku felt sympathy for him in that regard. If Riku was that bad, how bad was Sora doing, he wondered. 

“It feels like I haven’t seen you much since you became a master,” Sora mused, giving Riku a half-hearted smile. “It’s almost like you’re avoiding me.” He was joking, and Riku knew that, but it was no less partially true. He’d been avoiding everyone since being named master, and it was more so for his own sake than out of maliciousness. His anxiety had been getting progressively worse, and each nightmare brought a new fear into his heart of the darkness that lingered there. His mark of mastery was sign enough that he had tamed the dark, but it didn’t stop the fear he held. 

“I know. I don’t mean to be so distant, it’s been rough since we’ve been back – between training and the missions master Yen Sid has sent me on, I feel like I’ve had no time to even say hello.” Hand ran through the mess of silver locks, pushing his hair from his face before he laid his head back against the wall. “But I’ve missed being with you and Kairi, it feels like it’s been ages since I actually got to spend any time with either of you.”

Sora sighed, nodding to himself as his eyes stayed trained on Riku’s face. He always watched him with so much intensity, and even though Riku acted like he didn’t notice, he always did. And Riku stared back, watching him with his own tired teal eyes, meeting him with the same intensity. Despite himself, he could feel himself starting to drift in and out of the conversation; Sora’s mouth was moving, but he could only make out every other word – something to do about missions Yen Sid had for him and how he had progressed since their test. For a moment it was calm. 

Sora had looked away, just a moment or so, to smile to himself with a sense of pride for something he had accomplished, his face ever soft. It made Riku’s heart clench in a sweet way that he couldn’t help but feel warm from. But it lasted only a moment; Sora had turned back, now, and Riku felt his blood run cold. 

The same golden eyes, the ones that he found himself staring at in his dream, were staring back at him now. Sora’s face, Sora’s voice, but his eyes. He stiffened, horror and fear painting every feature of his face. His body was rigid, color drained from his face as he could only stare, unmoving. 

He wsn’t he most observant, but this was hard to miss, the sudden and extreme change that took place the moment Sora looked back at him. The last time he had seen Riku that pale, he’d been horribly sick with the flu, but now, he looked like he’d seen a ghost. Sora couldn’t recall if he’d ever seen the older look so scared in the time they’d known each other. 

“Riku…?” He called gently, but there was no response, just fear written all over his face, even as Sora reached forward gently. “H-Hey, Riku, what’s wrong?” His fingers pressed lightly to Riku’s cheek, he in turn flinched, hard, before he finally seemed to see Sora. 

As quickly as the fear had come, it seemed to vanish, and Riku seemed almost as stoic as always. Sora could see it, though, the sweat that shone in a thin sheet on his forehead, the sunken way his face looked, and the quick rise and fall of his chest as he struggled to regain his composure and catch his breath. Sora’s hand had dropped back down to his side, but Riku wtched now, as Sora reched up again, brushing the soft locks from Riku’s face; it was comforting and slow, and Riku couldn’t help but try to chase his fingers as they pulled back. 

“What’s wrong…?” He whispered again, deep blues filled with concern as they searched Riku’s face for an answer as to what he had seen that had scared him so terribly. Riku swallowed, before he leaned forward a bit, palm pressing light to Sora’s cheek. It was real, he could feel the warmth radiating off it, could feel the soft touch of Sora’s fingers coming up to meet his hand. A sigh, and Riku sighed somewhat, before his arms wrapped tight around Sora’s frame. 

“It was nothing,” He whispered, but Sora was unconvinced, and Riku knew it without having to look at him. Riku was shaking, Sora could feel it against his chest as his arms slowly circled around Riku’s midsection, cheek pressed against his shoulder. 

“Don’t lie to me, Riku, you’re not good at it.” Came the mumbled reply, and Riku chuckled a bit in response. “Please tell me. Why are you awake, what did you see just now…?”

Riku pulled back then, knee propped as his elbow rested against it while his fingers pushed through his bangs uneasily. “Ansem,” He started, turning to look from Sora to the wall. “For a while now, I’ve been seeing him in my dreams, in some form or another. Ever since the test, it’s been constant.” He laughed, then, almost bitter as his hand moved to rub at his neck. “I don’t remember the last time I slept through the night, but lately it’s been worse. I woke up from a bad dream, that’s why I was awake.”

Sora was quiet for a minute, watching Riku sadly; he’d known something was going on – even before, Riku had never been the kind to lie to him or keep away from him, not like this. But to realize he had been suffering so much, Sora felt emotions bubble up and catch in his throat.

“But what about just now…? What did you see?”

He was silent, now, staring at the wall as he debated telling Sora the truth. “I saw his eyes.” The reply was quiet, he’d almost hoped Sora hadn’t heard him. “I saw his eyes on you, and for a second I thought I was trapped in my dreams, that any second you were going to morph into him, and that’d be it.” There was a pregnant pause between them, as Riku felt himself relieve the panic, if only for a moment, and Sora stared with uncertainty. Another moment passed, and Sora moved closer, fitting himself in Riku’s lap as his arms wrapped around Riku’s shoulders. 

“I’m scared, too, Riku. Scared of Xehanort, scared of what’s coming… I haven’t slept much either, so I get it.” Riku was quiet, chin settled against Sora’s shoulder. “I’m scared of going to sleep a-and not waking up again. I know I’ve got you, but I’m scared of what might happen to you, too. Xemnas nearly killed you the last time, who’s to say Xehanort won’t do worse…?”

“Sora…”

Sora cut him off, pulling back to look at him, then. His eyes were watering up, and it broke Riku’s heart to see it. “I-I’m really scared, Riku.” He wiped at his eyes, then, sniffling to himself as Riku pulled him close again. 

They sat like that for a bit, holding each other as the terror of what Riku had seen, of what Sora was experiencing died down, and Sora spoke up again. 

“Is… Is it okay if I stay in here tonight?” He asked softly, glancing up at Riku with questioning eyes. Riku chuckled, shifting until Sora’s weight fell at his side, arms still encircling him as he laid the two down. 

“Yes, dummy. Stay over as much as you need to, okay? I really don’t mind.” 

It didn’t take long for Sora to drift back to sleep – even with the fear that lingered over him, the kid could sleep on a boulder in a hurricane if he tried – but Riku stayed awake, staring up at the ceiling as he listened to the soft snores at his side. His hand rubbed Sora’s shoulder slowly, feeling his eyelids grow heavy as sleep began to encompass him. 

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Sora,” He muttered to himself, eyes sinking closed as he settled against the bed, face pressed into the wild mess of hair. “I promise. As long as I’m around, nothing’s gonna hurt either of us.”


End file.
